"Loan officers do not evaluate risk. They do not determine loan acceptability."

Updates with Regions' response in fifth paragraph.

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Regions Financial Corp. has been sued in a putative class-action which says the largest bank based in the state requires loan officers to work more than 40 hours a week to meet quotas and does not pay them for the overtime.

Two former loan officer for Regions who worked in northern Alabama filed the suit this week in U.S. District Court in Birmingham. It says they routinely worked weekends and nights to fill loan quotas and weren't paid for the extra labor as required by federal labor law.

Regions, the largest bank based in Alabama, employs and has employed hundreds or thousands of loan officers at about 1,700 branches in 16 states. The suit seeks back wages, overtime wages and unspecified damages on behalf of all loan officers who are or were similarly situated as the former ones who filed the suit.

"Because payment was on a commission basis, loan officers often work weeks where their wages fell below the federal minimum wage," the suit says. "Given this compensation structure, there were many weeks in which plaintiffs and class members did not receive pay despite working significant hours."

The suit will now face a process called certification, during which a judge will determine if the circumstances warrant authorizing it to proceed on behalf of all loan officers.

According to the lawsuit, loan officers are not managerial employees and therefore are not exempt from federal overtime laws. They exercise no judgment over an applicant's creditworthiness, the suit says, but rather perform data entry tasks, leaving a computer to make lending decisions.

"This process involves no exercise of discretion or independent judgment on the part of the loan officer," the suit says. "Loan officers do not evaluate risk. They do not determine loan acceptability. They do not determine the appropriate premium levels."

Regions is the largest employer in the Birmingham area, with about 6,000 workers. Shares of the company have risen about 70 percent in the past year.